Freddy Ovett to join BMC Racing Team as stagiaire

ACA-Ride Sunshine Coast cyclist, Freddy Ovett, will join BMC Racing Team as a stagiaire for the remainder of the 2018 season.

The stagiaire offer is an opportunity of a lifetime for Ovett and comes off the back of a huge season with ACA, including a top 10 placing at the recent
Tour of Qinghai Lake, China.

The son of Olympic 800-metre Gold medalist, Steve Ovett, Freddy was himself a long-distance runner on scholarship at Oregon State University, before making
the transition to road cycling due to an injury four years ago. Ovett is based on the Sunshine Coast and attends the University of the Sunshine Coast.

“We are pleased to welcome Freddy Ovett as stagiaire this year. The stagiaires will have a diverse race program with us and will be able to learn from
some of the most experienced riders in the peloton, starting with the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah this month,” Ochowicz said.

“Freddy impressed this year at the Herald Sun Tour so we are excited to see what he can do in the upcoming races. We obviously have a strong connection
to Australian riders so it is good to welcome some young talent to BMC Racing Team to race alongside some of Australia’s most well known riders; Rohan
Dennis, Simon Gerrans, Richie Porte, and Miles Scotson.”

ACA Director, Ben Kersten, said creating opportunities like this one for Ovett are exactly what the academy is all about.

“Our goal is to give young riders opportunities through racing to be noticed by the best teams in the world, and that’s exactly what’s happened with Freddy
and BMC,” he said.

“At the start of 2018, Freddy was left without a team and we signed him up. He raced the Herald Sun Tour with us in February, where he placed 10thoverall,
racing against some of the world’s best professional teams, which really got him noticed on the big stage.”

“We couldn’t be happier for Freddy to have this opportunity. His hard work and perseverance have got him to this point, and we have no doubt he has what
it takes to make that next step with BMC,” Kersten said.

For Ovett, joining BMC is nothing short of a dream come true.

“Joining BMC Racing Team for the last half of the year is quite simply a dream come true. It’s a team I’ve been very fond of since I started cycling and
I’m very humbled to be given this opportunity by the team,” he said.

“It’s exciting to be a part of one of cycling’s biggest professional teams and I’m looking to learning as much as possible within this time period,” Ovett
said.

The Australian Cycling Academy is a UCI registered under-23 cycling development team designed to deliver a pathway for young cyclists into the professional
ranks. The Academy is based at the University of the Sunshine Coast and supported by principle partner the Sunshine Coast Council.